By ROY HESS, Staff Writer
LOS FRESNOS — High school football made a welcomed return Friday night to Leo Aguilar Memorial Stadium.
The Los Fresnos Falcons played host to the Donna High Redskins in the first scrimmage of the 2014 season for both teams.
The Falcons won both phases of the scrimmage.
“The thing that stood out to me tonight was I saw a lot of improvement from our intrasquad scrimmage last weekend,” said Los Fresnos coach Clint Finley, who is now entering his fifth season guiding the Falcons. “The execution, the operation and all of those things went a whole lot smoother than it went last week.
“I’m proud of our boys,” Finley added. “Now they need to do it again this next week as we get ready for our next scrimmage.”
The fans were treated to plenty of offensive fireworks as the teams combined for eight touchdowns during the first half alone. Los Fresnos led 5-3 at intermission as each team received three possessions during the opening half of controlled scrimmage play.
While Donna High scored on each of its three first-half possessions, Los Fresnos scored once on its first possession and twice during each of its next two possessions to hold the 5-3 advantage at the break.
During two quarters of game conditions in the second half, Los Fresnos rallied to win 7-3.
In the opening half, the Redskins went on offense first and reeled off scores on 2- and 1-yard bursts up the middle by running backs Herbie Garcia and Paul Guerra, respectively, followed by a 1-yard quarterback keeper for a TD by Amonte Bowen on their third possession.
“I thought we saw some really good things from our team,” second-year Redskins coach Ramiro Leal said. “Of course, we saw some things to improve upon, too. We want to strengthen our strengths and improve on our weaknesses while learning from our mistakes so we can try not to do them again.
“Los Fresnos has a great team,” he added. “They’re well-coached and they have some great athletes. For us to be able to compete against them is great because we’re in a different (lower) classification. We want to keep that mentality that we can play (well) against those types of teams. It’ll only make us better.”
A 7-yard quarterback keeper around the left side by Pierce Ruiz accounted for Los Fresnos’ initial score. During the Falcons’ second possession, they registered TDs on runs of 5 and 14 yards by Sammy Cruz. On their third possession, the Falcons found the end zone on a 30-yard scramble by Ruiz and a 4-yard pass play from Ruiz to Pete Perez.
The teams played game conditions during the two quarters of the second half, and Donna High went up 3-0 on a field goal of medium range by Luis Pina before Los Fresnos scored early in the final period to go up 7-3 on a 1-yard plunge by Isaac Moreno. That score stood to the end as the Falcons had to make two defensive stands within their 20-yard line during the final minutes to preserve the win.
Los Fresnos continues its scrimmage schedule next Friday at Edinburg High and will open the regular season Aug. 29 at home against Edinburg North.
The Redskins will be at home for their final scrimmage next Friday against Rivera. The Redskins open the season Aug. 29 at home against Brownsville Veterans Memorial.
Both teams are coming off playoff seasons. One year ago, Los Fresnos advanced two rounds in the Class 5A playoffs for the first time since 2008 and finished with an 8-4 record. Donna High lasted one round in the 5A playoffs in 2013 and ended 7-4.
The Falcons are playing in District 32-6A this season, and the Redskins will be in District 32-5A.